Archived News:

Monday, Jul 25, 2011

Kalypso Media announcesDisciples III: Resurrection, an upcoming sequel to Disciples III: Renaissance, saying the new installment in the turn-based tactical RPG series will be released for Windows PCs in January 2012. Here are the first screenshots from the game, and here's a bit: "In Disciples III: Resurrection, players will be returned to the mythical land of Nevendaar, where they must lead the Undead Horde, a menagerie of fallen beasts and heroes who are now walking dead and are exacting their revenge in the name of their dark Goddess of death, Mortis. The game will feature the trademark art style that make Disciples III: Renaissance a hit with fans, and introduce dozens of new units, multiple heroes and a massive campaign." Here's a feature list:

A new race – The Undead Hordes -- a fan favorite, these walking dead beasts (including Death Dragons, Vampires, werewolves and more) and heroes will ravage the land of Nevendaar and challenge players’ tactical skills to their utmost.

Huge campaign – over 70 hours of gameplay to keep players immersed in the world of Disciples

More units – more than 50 new units, plus two new storyline characters and four leaders for the Undead Hordes

Distinct game world and story – the world of Nevendaar features a powerful gothic theme, with detailed artwork and character models.

The Carpe Fulgur Website now offers a playable demo for Chantelise: A Tale of Two Sisters, saying this action/RPG will be released via digital distribution on Friday. There's a blurb on Destructoid outlining the demo's contents: "The demo contains the game's tutorial and the first few levels of play. It's a dungeon crawler and you hack-n-slash your way through stages of enemies. You can replay any of the game's levels to try and clear the monsters faster, and your best times are saved."

The Dead Cyborg Website offers the first episode in this "first person view, hard-sci-fi adventure game." This can be had for free, as it is provided on a "pay if you like" basis. Here's a trailer, and here's word:

“Dead Cyborg” is a free, donation based sci-fi adventure game for Windows, Linux and Mac. The story is about the meaning of life... and death... in a rusty post-apocalyptic metal and concrete world. Check the homepage for more information.

If you are keen on exploring the levels of fps games, you like the old text adventures, or the sci-fi classics (like Lem, Dick, Bradbury etc.) - you will like this game.

The game will be published by episodes (2-3 hours of play per episode). The first episode is now available on the homepage. The next episodes will come when enough donation is paid for the first episode. The full game will have 3 episodes (this is sure, not an endless story or something like that).

A new patch is now available for Original War, offering a semi-official update to Altar Interactive's decade-old real-time strategy game. This version 1.11.0 patch was created by members of the community with the blessings of Altar, as well as access to the original source code, and the outcome includes additional subtitle support, new dedicated server admin functions, and a bunch of bug fixes. The download is available from AtomicGamer, Gamer's Hell, and The Patches Scrolls, and the patch notes follow. Continue here to read the full story.

"The cool thing about this industry is, if you’re good, you’ll make a ton of money," says Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter. "I just don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for people who say ‘I worked for such-and-such, and I didn’t get paid, and that’s not fair’. If you want to be an hourly employee, go build automobiles, and what will happen is they’ll close down your autoplant some day and you’ll be out of work."

Veterans of Mafia developer 2K Czech and original Operation Flashpoint studio Bohemia Interactive have formed a new studio called Warhorse, reports Eurogamer. They offer a quote from the company's website, but the link is broken, and we can't find the original (though we did find the Warhorse Games Website that's a home to a different developer. While they don't offer specifics on game plans, they do outline their mission statement: "There is a common thread running through our previous games: open worlds, strong storyline and, last but not least, realistic design. We can proudly say that the games Mafia and Operation Flashpoint were the vanguard of this approach and millions of players worldwide clearly share our view. Even if our new project is different in many respects, it is a game that is not going to disappoint fans of open realistic worlds and quality stories."

Joystiq reports the Windows edition of From Dust will launch one month later than planned, and the god game is now expected on August 17, just weeks after plans to release the game this week were revealed (the XBLA edition is still expected on Wednesday). No reason for the setback is offered. Thanks Gamer's Hell.

A new "Purity First " trailer from Deus Ex: Human Revolution combines live action footage and cinematic sequences to explore the human augmentation technology that underlies much of the upcoming action/RPG prequel. The clip shows how technology can help enhance human skills and abilities, but can also be used to observe (was that Wheatley?) and control individuals as well, highlighting the contrasting utopian and dystopian elements in this vision of the future. The clip concludes with a pointer to the Sarif Industries Website with some more viral promotion, and a recursive link back to the same trailer. The embedded version follows. Continue here to read the full story.

The Battlefield Blog has a FAQ on plans for an Alpha Trial version of Battlefield 3, DICE's upcoming military shooter sequel. This covers how this alpha will differ from the game's beta testing, which is currently planned for September. They also describe their goals, saying this about the Alpha Trial: "It is a highly tech focused test period where the main purpose is to do a number of server related tests in preparation for game launch requiring a set amount of players online to ensure the final experience is as much fun and easy as possible." They don't specify what platform or platforms this will cover, but they do outline what will and won't help you gain entrance:

The Alpha is a closed test and by invitation only. If you'd like to have a chance to be called upon make sure to register for our newsletter and ensure your Veteran status is up to date.

We are also not giving away keys to the Alpha Trial on any of our social networking platforms.

Speaking of The Sims (story below), The Sims 3 Website now offers details on a new automatic patch for The Sims 3 to update the lifestyle simulation sequel to version 1.24. The patch notes mention changes for various expansion packs, making this a unified release that remedies what had previously been a fairly confusing process involving separate patches for each add-on and stuff pack. The lengthy change list follows. Continue here to read the full story.

GfK Chart-Track now offers the list of the top 20 full-price PC entertainment titles in the U.K. for the week ending July 23. This week the top three spots remain unchanged, with The Sims 3: Generations at number one, Football Manager 2011 at number two, and The Sims 3 at number three in a chart that's 25% Sims titles. MCV has the (Sims-free) U.K. all-platforms chart for the week, which is entirely unchanged from last week, so Zumba Fitness remains number one.

BioWare is offering fans the chance to vote on the appearance of the female version of Commander Shepard for Mass Effect 3, the upcoming action/RPG sequel. The voting is taking place on the Mass Effect Facebook Page were there are six models to chose from (though the first three all look like Kurt from Glee). Since none of them feature more flesh showing through her body armor, there's no clear favorite at this point.

Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling tweets an image of the Modern Warfare 3 Hardened Edition, though other than the titular hardened case, there's no indication of what this version of the military shooter sequel will include. Word is: "First look at the #MW3 Hardened Edition, literally on the factory line. Details on it coming at Call of Duty XP!"

There's a Splash Damage postmortem on Eurogamer for Brink, where they report on a talk looking back at the first-person shooter conducted by Splash Damage's Ed Stern at the Develop conference. As the game's writer, most of his perspective focuses on the actors and dialog. He is critical of the direction they gave their talent, as well as the decision to allow voice actors to ad lib, saying: "Write out all of the alternate lines no matter how stupid you feel. I made an absolute mistake on that." Other elements that didn't turn out as hoped include too much gratuitous physical interaction between characters and the abuse of CSI-style "button" lines. He also notes that the absence of the Founders from the game may have been confusing after they are mentioned in the game's introduction, though he stresses that they did not want to add a third faction.

Happy National Hot Fudge Sundae Day, which falls on this day every year (seems like it should always fall on a Sunday). I think the only other question about this is why it isn't International Hot Fudge Sundae Day, as this seems to be an easy cause to endorse. I'm going to have my secretary get the U.N. on the phone and straighten this out.